Happy Tears

I had woken up near dawn due to the ray of sunlight that hit me straight in the face in addition to the increasing volume of quite a few creatures that I would assume to be roosters. I put on the same clothes as the day before and went downstairs to prepare breakfast. I prepared what Anna told me was some sort of tea and was gladly surprised when it turned out to be quite the sweet beverage.

After having breakfast with Anna, she said that her gift was still not ready but that by the end of the day she would make sure to give it to me. Besides having a pleasant conversation with Anna, and spending the rest of the morning going over my books again, the rest of the day went pretty nice and lazy.

Once dusk was starting to come, Anna told me that we should go outside so that she could give me her gift. I was curious so I went with her downstairs to the first floor and finally exited the house. As soon as I took a step out of the doorframe, I was received by a massive group of people. All of them were carrying different kinds of food and there were even quite a few tables already placed outside.

" " " "Happy Birthday, Helena!!" " " "

Anna and the rest of the villagers wished me a happy birthday with a smile on their faces. As I recovered from the shock, something inside my chest started to hurt really bad...When was the last time someone said it to me?....Even so, when was the last time I actually celebrated my birthday?...As I tried to keep calm, the feelings that I had been keeping to myself started to take over and soon enough I was crying.

As expected, the people around me got a little worried, but I quickly started to dry the tears from my face, and with a big smile on my face, I calmed them down.

"It's.....Okay....These are happy tears."

After which, we spent most of that night having a small feast. There was some alcohol, but I preffered not to drink since I wasn't fond of it anyways. Anna managed to get absolutely drunk and after the party was finished, I carried her all the way to her room while avoiding getting myself covered in vomit.

It was a happy and fun situation, and that night I went to bed with a smile on my face and a much more clear mind than before. I fell asleep soon after that, and I had sweet dreams.

The next morning, I woke up as early as the day before. I had some clothes prepared in a briefcase I would be using as my very basic baggage, I also had in my possession a very familiar weapon. It was indeed a Katana, which I would be needing in order to join the Adventurer's Guild. Anna had one as well, but in addition she had prepared an extra one to hold her books and utensils she would be using once she enters the Academy.

And so, with everything at the ready, we started our way into the road that lead towards Breitenfield. It was 3 days worth of travel by foot, and it was expected to be safe for the most part, but caution was pretty much adviced since some wild animals may wander a little into the road sometimes. We took note of it and since Anna knew how to use offensive magic, and I had some good practice on how to use a weapon, we were quite confident that we would have no problem at all traversing the forest.

Once again, destiny would play a wildcard when we stopped our walk when in the middle of the second day, at the side of the road, laid what looked like an injured person. Unsuspecting, I approached the man only to dodge by the tip of a hair a dagger heading towards my stomach.

The "injured" man was nothing but bait, and from the side of the road, from within the trees, another two men jumped towards us with the objective of what I would assume to be, steal from us and left us for dead. It was a classical encounter, and since the difference in numbers wasn't great, I decided to face them head on.

Starting with the bait, after I dodged his shank, I proceeded to unload a punch into his throat, before hitting him with my elbow on the jaw, knocking him out a few seconds later. Then I turned around, and the momment I noticed that one of those bandits had made a scratch on the side of Anna's face with his dagger, I felt some kind of....Anger I haven't felt before.

My body moved on its own and my blade was unsheathed. Two cuts later and it was all over. The two bandits who had jumped Anna were killed on the spot. As soon as I snapped back into reality, I checked on Anna to see if she had any other injury.

"Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"

"Ye-yeah....I'm alright. Thanks."

A sigh of relief. The wound on her cheek seemed like it was mostly shallow and not too bad, but as much experience as I had in my previous life with injuries, it would possibly leave a small scar after it was healed. I turned around and saw the bodies. For some reason, I felt absolutely no remorse.

I approached the unconscious one and pondered for a few moments before I grasped my sword tightly and drove it into the man's chest. Stabbed in the heart, he died very quickly without even knowing it. Or at least so I wished.

We continued our journey without any setbacks. I treated Anna's wound using some bandages I brought with me and did my best to clean the drops of blood from our clothes. Once the time came for us to go to bed at camp, as I laid on my bedroll, a notification window appared before me.

[ You have received 30 EXP. ]

[Growth updated. Needed EXP for next Growth: 20]

[Growth updated. Needed EXP for next Growth: 30]

Apparently I had achieved the amount needed for Growth to happen twice with that encounter. A slightly off feeling was transmitted onto my body as I oppened the character sheet once more.

『 S t a t u s 』

Name: Helena.

Age: 18. [Birthday: 09/05]

Race: Demi-Human. [Canis]

Sanity: Stable.

EXP: 0/30

STR: 12 [+4]

DEX: 10 [+2]

CON: 12 [+2]

INT: 10

PER: 10 [+2]

CHA: 10

Skills:

+ [Commander Lvl 1]

+ [Bark Lvl 1]

+ [Bite Lvl 1]

+ [Enhanced Senses Lvl 1]

+ [Swordsmanship Lvl 2]

+ [Tactics Lvl 1]

Tittles:

+ [Blessed by The God of War]

+ [Outsider]

It was good to see that I didn't need to focus too much on managing these kind of things since it seemed to work by itself. A few stats went up and I felt like some weight was lifted from my mind alongside it. In any case, I quickly fell asleep and continued to do so for the rest of the night.

The next day we broke camp and finished our journey. It was a pretty sunny day, and the clearing of the forest really gave off some inherent good vibes about the town itself once we arrived. Breitenfield was different from Aard, it had actual stone walls that were a little less than 20 meters in height, but there seemed to be a low pressence of actual guards on post at the time we arrived.

The gate itself was mostly made out of wood with some glass mixed in to create a nice an pretty gate with actual windows. There was a line to get in, so we waited at the end of it for what felt like around half an hour. Anna said that since it was our first time entering, we would need to pay a fee to get in since we had no identification documents on us.

I thought it was fair so I prepared a few silver coins to keep on hand so that I don't have to look through all of my baggage just to get them. And so, we paid the fee, entered without problem, and finally were able to bathe in the sight of what would be home for the rest of the next few years. Since Anna wanted to actually graduate from the Academy, I decided I would find work around here so that we could still stick together while she studies.

Anna also explained to me that the Academy used a sort of dorm system and that I would need to pay to stay at an inn if I wanted to stay for long. She also said that she heard about Adventurer's getting some sort of discount, but she wasn't sure about it. I nodded and decided that I would need to register as one before go around asking for an inn to stay at.

With that said, Anna hugged me a lot before we went our separate ways, and she spoke some nice words to me as well.

"Remember, if you need anything, I'll be on the big stone building at the center of town alright? I know you are strong, so don't let anyone look down on you!"

"Now you seem like a mom sending off their child to school....Thanks, Anna. I'll go visit every weekend. See you until then!"

I sent her off with a smile before she walked away into the Academy, and thus I headed straight towards the building that would be my base of operations from that moment onwards. The guild.

When I entered, the smell of alcohol and hot meals filled my nostrils. It seemed to have a very lighthearted and nice mood, I wondered if that was normal or something good happened lately. I approached the first free secretary that I could see, and we exchanged greetings.

"Good afternoon."

"Hello, welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. What can I do for you?"

"I would like to register as an Adventurer, please."

I felt a shift in the mood as soon as I stated my business. For some reason, quite a few number of eyes were now fixed in my person, and I couldn't help but feel a little odd about it. The secretary cleared her throat and continued to explain how it should go.

"Of course, it's pretty simple actually. Just place your hand over this document here and the registration should happen automatically. There is no fee so don't worry."

"Alright."

Although most of the adventurer's in there were curious about a new rookie, they didn't stopped drinking and talking, and that made me feel a little better since I thought it was just curiosity was shifted the eyes of the people around me.

Anyways, I did as the secretary told me to, and soon enough the document was filled with text on its own. The information was pretty similar to what my character sheet showed me, but there was a lot less information since it just kept my name, race, age and main stats.

For some reason, the secretary seemed relieved to see my stats, and with that reaction, the people that were looking towards me went back to their own business once more. It was an odd welcome, but after that I asked for a recomended inn, and so I was directed towards what would become my next home.

The Drunk Rat. A very respectable stablishment that just happened to have a funny name. And it was my next stop.